


Amongst the Trees, Oaks Standing Tall

by CommanderRoastedWolf



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: AU, AU where katniss never went to the hunger games, F/F, Fluff, Rare Pair, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 20:51:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13279644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommanderRoastedWolf/pseuds/CommanderRoastedWolf
Summary: Katniss and Madge often meet to walk in the forest outside the Seam. Now, the pair have grown up, and still find time to find peace amongst the trees.





	Amongst the Trees, Oaks Standing Tall

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I saw that you're doing writing commissions and I was wondering if I could request a short story! Are you familiar with the hunger games series and/or the characters Madge and Katniss? I'd like something pre-games or where the games never happened, when Katniss takes Madge out to explore the woods!
> 
> A commission for captainmorgan-claire on tumblr

We meet where we always do. Beside the fence, near where I sneak out nearly every day to hunt. She always arrives a little earlier than I do – willowy, pale, her hair worn long down her back. The golden strands catch at the corners of her narrow face as the breeze flutters around us. I scuff the dust beneath my boots, allowing a tiny smile to strain at the corner of my mouth. If she notices, I can’t tell, but she does dip her head in greeting.

“Katniss.”

“Madge.”

We stand together for a moment. She marks the scar through my eyebrow with her cool thumb. I feel its press for an eternity of seconds before she turns to look through the fence at the Meadow. I take a moment to look at her freely, my mind full of little technicalities. She’s wearing leather trousers under the old dress, and solid looking boots that wouldn’t be out of place in the mines. She took my advice, then.

“I checked it before you arrived,” Madge says suddenly, pressing her hand against the fence. Her dark brown eyes study the shadow of the forest ahead, eyebrows twitched in a slight frown. “I always feel slightly nervous when listening for it.”

I step up beside her. She glances at me, then looks askance, her mouth forming a slight purse for a moment before she continues. “It being, you know. The buzz.”

I nod, not one for words, and bend down to shift the bush aside, looking at her only to gesture her through the narrow gap at the bottom. She lies flat on her belly without hesitation, shimmying through until she is free, dusting herself off as I follow after her.

I feel her hand on my shoulder as I rise to my feet, then her fingers tracing along the leather coat guarding me. The contact is momentary, stunning – the first time she’s touched me at all today – and we look at each other at the same time. So close to home, we cannot be as open as we would like, and together we turn and hurry towards the forest.

The scruffy grass of the Meadow brushes against our thighs as we wade forward, leaving the Seam behind us. The stuffy air of the mines does not reach us here and I take a breath, savouring the taste of it on the back of my tongue. Madge strides beside me, ignoring the way her dress snags on the plants below us – I glance at her out of the corner of my eye. She is radiant in the sun. Her hair shimmers, little golden highlights picked up by the light and, when she looks at me, her eyes are full of the deepest hazel I have ever seen.

I look away.

I’m not ready to take in her beauty yet.

We reach the cool shade of the forest. Her duties fall away from her, while mine only grow heavier. She said once that I wear mine like a cloak; I did not disagree. I retrieve my bow and arrows from the hollow log, counting them wordlessly. Thirteen. Unlucky, some would say. I sling them around my shoulder and Madge takes my hand. It is as easy as breathing – something we have done many times before.

She is warm as we link our fingers, walking silently into the deep quiet of the forest. The branches form a vaulting cathedral above our heads, leaves crunching under our boots. The ground is dry – it hasn’t rained for some time, and the Seam has started to get stuffy. I mention this to her in my fumbling way, still shy. She laughs.

“It is summer, after all. I suppose it could be worse.” She only continues after I quirk my eyebrow at her. “Oh, well. Forest fires. I’ve heard they’re pretty rare here. Is that true?”

I nod, pausing in a clearing through which a pretty stream flows. I let go of her hand reluctantly to check my traps. They come up empty.

“I’ve never seen any fires here.” I reply as I shuffle leaves around the traps to conceal them a little more. “I guess it’s possible though. Dry summers. My father used to say that lightning can make forest fires happen.”

Madge shivers a little as I straighten and return to her side. “I’ve always been a little in awe of lightning. They say it never strikes the same place twice.” Her eyes catch me for a moment and I am stuck, fastened in place as though it is I who have been trapped. “My mother says love is the same.”

She moves a little closer – I can see into the deep depths of her eyes, full of some unspeakable emotion. One I cannot begin to fathom. I can smell her perfume. It’s a soft, gentle scent – like her. Not like me. Hard, sharp, visceral.

“The same as what?” I reply a little stupidly. She looks different from when we were younger. Filled out. A woman of twenty-one years. Like me. We were lucky only in the fact the Reaping hadn’t chosen either of us.

“Lightning.” She replies. “It’s the same as lightning. Never striking twice.”

She kisses me. Her breath is warm against my mouth as she does so, her hand finding mine between us. My mind goes blank and I kiss her back, closing my eyes and pressing closer to her, finding the crux of her waist to pull her against me.

We part with a soft sound – the kiss glows inside me and I carefully place it alongside the other kisses we have shared, deep in the vaults of my heart, where no violence or pain can touch them.

“I guess I’m your lightning.” I say stupidly. She laughs and bundles herself close to my chest, resting her head on my shoulder. I hold her for a moment, realising belatedly that I dropped my bow.

“My handsome lightning.” She replies and presses a brief kiss to my nose. I offer her a tiny smile.

We start off again, holding hands, basking in the glorious day.

**Author's Note:**

> I am currently taking commissions! Please check out my commissions page here:   
> http://commander-roastedwolf.tumblr.com/post/169282445393/howdy-folks-ace-here-so-i-need-some-help-i#notes


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